THE clash with Catalan turned out to be the latest ‘up’ on the roller coaster ride.

After a closely fought first 15 minutes, Wire asserted their dominance in the next 40 minutes or so.

Even more pleasingly, they produced around a point a minute in that time.

I was delighted to see more of the ball being thrown wide and offloads than in recent weeks.

The first try came when Stefan Ratchford make a break after collecting two offloads from inside his own half, first from Trent Waterhouse then Anthony England.

After that Ratchford's little chip kick was gathered by Joel Monaghan before passing to his winger Gene Ormsby, who was hauled down close to the line but the damage had been done. Simple quick passes led to Monaghan having a stroll in for his 100th try for the club in as many appearances.

In a classic case of being in the wrong place at the right time, England pounced on a loose ball that kept the momentum very much in Wire's favour.

An excellent ‘Jason Robinson-esque’ run by Matty Russell resulted in the try of the match, Monaghan's second.

A combination of excellent footwork, good vision and aggression saw Ratchford score the fourth and final try of the first half.

Early in the second half Wire got the ultimate reward for one of their trademark charge downs, with Chris Bridge scoring the try. Micky Higham and James Laithwaite also got on the score sheet.

Every team needs to find its identity, something that suits their collective abilities.

All season we have been asking for more structure and organisation in attack.

It occurred to me that is like asking Jimmy Hendrix to paint you a picture and expect to be impressed – instead of giving him a guitar and letting him play.

I think this group of players are best when they play with their eyes and trust their instincts to make the most of the situation in front of them, attacking with an element of carefree chaos.

We can talk as much as we want about players from last season but they won't be coming back.

The team that people want to see replicated lost the last two Grand Finals - this current team can't focus on being like them, they have to find a way to be better than them.

Comments (1)

There are some players doing some good things some of the time & there is definitely a base to build on , maybe a bit more patience in attack & some more experience gained throughout the season could see us well placed come September. We do need to abandon the ever present problem of giving cheap possession away & play to the ability of individuals within the team even if it means not scoring off every set.

There are some players doing some good things some of the time & there is definitely a base to build on , maybe a bit more patience in attack & some more experience gained throughout the season could see us well placed come September. We do need to abandon the ever present problem of giving cheap possession away & play to the ability of individuals within the team even if it means not scoring off every set.ninearches